$19 isnt alot for anyone,but is there any plan of making it free for all like UDK and $19+5% royalty indie license for releasing commercial games only ?
I know for Students/Faculty is free but why it is not for all ?
(Homeschooled,already graduated or self taught students)
The amount of time,content and power that Unreal has is incredible. I don’t see it going free any time in the future, the devs at Epic deserve all of it.
free to use like UDK 3
but developers has to buy an indie license at $19 of a specific UE 4 version when they want to release a commercial game not a free demo or non-commercial games
plus 5% royalty
just a request
Pros : 0% piracy
Cons : i see none,does anyone ?
Cons: Unity community
Spend $19 on UE4 and spend hundreds of hours building stuff. The only way to find a better value for your money would be to go outside and start walking.
I can’t imagine they’ll make it ‘free for ,’ even remotely soon. That’d be a rather silly move, I think. The subscription price is incredibly low (and, you only need pay it once, if you don’t need the constant updates). It supports Epic and the further development of the engine. If you’re serious about it, take the plunge! 
syedblender, are you kidding me? $19 is very cheap. Period.
I think a common problem in a digital age is that it’s hard for people to appreciate value and understand the time and effort that not only went into making software, but to continually support and update it.
Healthy competition from other engines should keep prices fair and already Unreal 4 has the best deal. I’m curious to see if Unity update their price plans when Unity 5 is released in order to compete with UE4.
[=syedblender;140225]
free to use like UDK 3
but developers has to buy an indie license at $19 of a specific UE 4 version when they want to release a commercial game not a free demo or non-commercial games
plus 5% royalty
just a request
Pros : 0% piracy
Cons : i see none,does anyone ?
[/]
Cons 0% income for Epic until you release project and get a license.
I’m against the “free” idea it’s great right now and the amount of support etc. Totaly worth the 19. As soon as my subs runs out i will try and do another one for a year.
[=syedblender;140118]
$19 isnt alot for anyone,but is there any plan of making it free for all like UDK and $19+5% royalty indie license for releasing commercial games only ?
I know for Students/Faculty is free but why it is not for all ?
(Homeschooled,already graduated or self taught students)
[/]
You can only pay once and if you don’t have $19 I wonder how you pay your power+internet bills to open thread.
Update the engine every 5 months and you pay $3.8 /m…
Oversimplifying
[=;140586]
You can only pay once and if you don’t have $19 I wonder how you pay your power+internet bills to open thread.
[/]
oversimplifies the situation unfairly. I don’t think anyone on the board doubts that Epic’s current licensing model for UE4 is an amazing value. Compared to, for example, the Unity Pro license, UE4 is downright cheap. Compared to what a full Unreal license used to cost back in the day, they’re practically giving licenses away.
The isn’t value or even perceived value. The isn’t even whether that fee is an obstacle to entry for new people - it certainly is. The real debate is about whether having an obstacle to entry is a good thing or a bad thing.
The reason that Epic created the Academic program (I’m assuming - I don’t work for them) is to encourage the next generation of game programmers to learn Unreal rather than another engine. Many programmers don’t learn to program using formal education. Ours is a field with a long tradition of people teaching themselves or learning from books, videos, and online tutorials.
To give an example, my company has around 40 programmers. Considerably less than half of those have formal CS or engineering degrees and I see absolutely no correlation between those degrees and quality of work.
Right now, people looking to teach themselves game development are very likely to choose Unity over Unreal simply because Unity has a free option and UE4 doesn’t. It’s not about appreciating value for these people, it’s that they are taking their first tentative steps into something new and may not be ready to plunk down money yet. When they are ready, they’re likely going to stick with the platform they started on because that will be their comfort zone.
But, as someone already pointed out in thread, there is a downside to opening the floodgates. The Unity community has bright spots and some truly wonderful people, but much of the community is a fetid swamp of negativity and incompetence populated by people who are in love with the idea of making a game, but who are not all that interested in putting in the work involved in actually making a good game. That situation can’t be blamed entirely on the free license (poor moderation of the forums is at least a contributing factor, for example), but it’s certainly one of the main reasons.
There’s not a simple right or wrong answer to whether Unreal should have a free option. It’s not simply a matter of UE4 being a great value and people should pony up money. It’s more nuanced than that.
Personally, as someone who has been seriously contemplating writing a UE4 book for beginners, I’d really like to see some kind of option to let people try UE4 for free. My most rewarding book to date was a beginner book on iPhone programming. Six years later, I still have people thanking me for getting them started on a career they love. I’d like to be able to do something similar for future game programmers because I know there is a lot of interest in it and it can be intimidating as heck, but am hesitant to write that kind of beginner book as long as there’s no free option at all.
But, as someone who has incurred the wrath of the dregs of the Unity community, I also understand the desire to have the fee to keep out the riff raff (and also to keep support costs down). I enjoy the Unreal forums SO much more than the Unity forums because people are almost universally civil, pleasant, helpful, and earnest. I also love the fact that Unreal developers often chime in to help. If we open the floodgates, that would all very possibly change.
That $19.95 will keep out many of the non-serious game developers, but it will also keep out some people with the potential to become great game creators.
[=;140651]
That $19.95 will keep out many of the non-serious game developers, but it will also keep out some people with the potential to become great game creators.
[/]
Exactly, you don’t want 1 million clones. Epic is doing a good job and they are not changing their well thought plan because some hobbyist teenagers.
A game developer is willing to pay more than mere $19, serious or not.
Hi ,
We do not have any plans for a UDK 4. We feel that $19/month is a fair price for engine. However, you are able, as previously mentioned, to cancel the subscription at any time and still keep the engine version that you have! If that is more feasible for you we encourage you to do so and only subscribe when you want specific updates.
i agree EPIC is doing an job not by making it $19/month but also the support is better than any community i have known.
UE 4 developers are very kind and supportive even EPIC game developer answers queries on Twitter 
they are so many channels,books,facebook groups for getting help,$19 is nothing compared to that.
i give alot of weightage to community support than the software but UE 4 has it all
[=;140659]
Exactly, you don’t want 1 million clones. Epic is doing a good job and they are not changing their well thought plan because some hobbyist teenagers.
[/]
Did you read anything in my post that implies that Epic isn’t doing a good job or that they should change their plan? I don’t even know what their plans are outside of what’s been publicly announced. I certainly didn’t intend to imply any disapproval of Epic. Heck, I’m practically a fanboy of those fine folk.
But, honestly, I do want a million clones. I don’t want them released to the public, but I do want people making them, because doing is the best way to learn. Great game developers weren’t born as great game developers. The more people we have learning to create games, the more great game programmers we’re going to have a few years from now, and I see that as a good thing.
[=;140659]
A game developer is willing to pay more than mere $19, serious or not.
[/]
Yeah, but tomorrow’s game developers? Most of them can be found in that pool of today’s “hobbyist teenagers”. I dare say, many of the people in the forums could, at one time, be called “hobbyist teenagers”.
When those future game developers decide what platform to use a few years from now, after they have a few clones under their belt and ready to get more serious, they’re going to choose the game platform they already know.
I’m not saying they should open the floodgates, I’m just saying that there are good people on the other side of the floodgate and maybe putting a little thought into getting some of those people through isn’t a bad thing.
I will be happy to pay $19 a month.
I pay 19€ 
Joke aside, no, I have no objection in Epic monthly price model, consider the amount of contents, freebies (free to use in our finished product) & updates we get. A simple mesh at tubrosquaid will cost you a monthly fee or more, & don’t get me started the ridculous amount of money Autodesk charged for for their software & hardly any extra meanngful content, updates until a year or so later.
Maya cost almost $200 a month, & even photoshop cc cost $13 a month & its not like there is any meaningful update to the photoshop we have been using like forever!
I however do, have an with the 5% royalites imposed even on skin packs, costume packs, mircotrans but thats another topic for another day.
On the grand scale of cost of making games, at 19bucks, its not too much to much for someone who are commited to making an end product with it, yet not too low (like free) that it attract all sort of people to use it, affecting the quality of teh community.
Also, it allows Epic to be committed to keep adding contents in marketplaces, & meaning update to the engine.
In any case, you are allowed (even recommended from Epic stuff) to subcript once, & cancel, & continue to use UE4 for rest of the period, until you wanted new updates.
Personally, I wouldn’t want the UDK licensing model brought back. And I don’t think they should charge less. But, I wouldn’t mind seeing something like a 60-day trial with no source access and no support. I think the engine, especially with the great video tutorials, basically sells itself. Giving people a to take it for a test run would actually increase the number of subscribers in the long run, by letting people run through the tutorials and experiment a little.
even the non serious people will be able to buy the engine at least once and pay another 19 every year if it’s such an, There is no actual barrier holding people off really. That means buying initially the engine 19 and another 19 for updates. So it’s a total of 38 per year if it’s such a big for you for a next gen engine with a full documentation that is actively written AND a load of amazing content.
I cannot argue enough on why the “free” aspect for isn’t good, Infact I can tell you that thinking getting it for free or through a “cracked” version is not worth to be around, Main reason is don’t think only bout your pockets. Think about epic as well. If they released it with a different licensing plan they wouldn’t be getting enough money, Thus they would have to reduce amount of time spent to R&D. Sorry if i sound harsh but that’s the cold truth, The less money a company gets the less will spend to grow.
Also I can bet that lots of ppl whining about spend more money per year for their luxury stuff such as coffees etc. 40 bucks per year should be enough.
[=;140674]
But, honestly, I do want a million clones. I don’t want them released to the public, but I do want people making them, because doing is the best way to learn. Great game developers weren’t born as great game developers. The more people we have learning to create games, the more great game programmers we’re going to have a few years from now, and I see that as a good thing.
[/]
Seriously are you still debating about $19? Even e beggar can save less than a dollar per day and get the engine end of the month…
People willing to learn will pay way more than that.
[=;140651]
Personally, as someone who has been seriously contemplating writing a UE4 book for beginners, I’d really like to see some kind of option to let people try UE4 for free. My most rewarding book to date was a beginner book on iPhone programming. Six years later, I still have people thanking me for getting them started on a career they love. I’d like to be able to do something similar for future game programmers because I know there is a lot of interest in it and it can be intimidating as heck, but am hesitant to write that kind of beginner book as long as there’s no free option at all.
[/]
Doesn’t iOS development to day require a $99/year subscription? And if you’re not working in something like UE4’s blueprints, a machine running OS X as well? That’s a much higher barrier to entry for most people.
[=;140651]
But, as someone who has incurred the wrath of the dregs of the Unity community, I also understand the desire to have the fee to keep out the riff raff (and also to keep support costs down). I enjoy the Unreal forums SO much more than the Unity forums because people are almost universally civil, pleasant, helpful, and earnest. I also love the fact that Unreal developers often chime in to help. If we open the floodgates, that would all very possibly change.
[/]
That’s my biggest concern, as someone who came from Unity I don’t want to see community turn into that. Seeing so many Epic staff posting regularly on the forums, and the reasonably high quality of forum posts was the reason I came over to Unreal. I was on the fence, leaning toward not trying it yet, but a day on the forums changed my mind. (And the channel so I could see the workflow.)
Here there’s some assumed level of technical competence when someone posts in the C++ forum or even the Blueprints forum. That’s not a snobbery thing, it’s valuable because in the Unity community, a lot of the people who COULD answer the intermediate and above questions were driven out because they got sick of explaining how if statements and for loops work. Here I can ask questions about the domain and actually get answers, sometimes from Epic employees themselves.